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Released by: Ascot Elite
Released on: June 23rd, 2015.
Director: Erwin C. Dietrich
Cast: Ingrid Steeger, Christa Free, Erwin C. Dietrich
Year: 1972
Purchase From Diabolik DVD
The Movie:
Erwin C. Dietrich directs this raunchy softcore comedy, also known as Hostesses In Heat, that begins when a window washer, sporting an amazing proto-mullet, pops into the open window of a man who makes adult movies (played by Dietrich himself). Why? To regale him with tales of rivalry in hopes that he'll find one of them appealing enough to turn it into a feature film.
With that setup out of the way, the movie bounces back and forth between their brief scenes of dialogue, all of which take place in what could very well have been Dietrich's actual office, and the vignettes that make up the bulk of the movie's running time. Some of the vignettes feature our window washer, who seems to hold quite a few different occupations, getting in on the action while others are simply stories he knows of for whatever reason.
So as these vignettes play out we get a weird variety of scenes ranging from humorous to surprisingly dark - early in the film we see Steeger (who is top billed but only in the movie for this one early scene) cast as an emissary of the Olympics tasked with taking care of a champion cyclist in time for the main event. There's also a scene in which Christa Free (the lovely and curvaceous star of the two Der Teufel In Ms. Jonas films) gets into her birthday suit with a less curvaceous but still lovely female co-star much to the dismay of the man that they've puzzlingly left balancing a pair of wine glasses on the tops of his hands. Now most men would have the wherewithal to just let the wine glasses go and get in on that action - this is Christa Free in her prime after all - but not this man, dedicated to tidiness as he is.
As the movie progresses we get a few more saucy little bump and grind bits and pieces - a chubby, aging white guy watches a skinny black chick go-go dance, a doctor and a nurse carry on in the hospital, a girl poses for a sleazy pornographer - culminating in the strangest one towards the end. Here a group of men are out for a jog in the woods. They come across a pretty Eurobabe and wind up accompanying her back to some sort of shed where there's a record player ready for action. She drops the needle and does a dance while they guzzle some booze and look on, seemingly hypnotized. From there they go at it with her and, well, it's weird. After that we head back into regular sexploitation territory and see a hot young blonde boff a chubby rich older guy on a boat.
Steeger's scene will be the highlight for a lot of viewers, and that's understandable. The statuesque blonde beauty really does look beautiful here and while her screen time is more than a little on the short side (she seemed to pop up in vignette based anthology stories like this far more frequently than she did in starring roles) but she's here and in all her glory at that. The Christa Free scene will give you a bit more bang for your buck than the Steeger scene though, so fans of Ms. Free, whose career didn't last early as long as Steeger's, should take note for that reason.
The guy who plays the window washer character is also noteworthy. He struts about looking as pompous as he does doughy. Not in the best of shape, he nevertheless gets it on with plenty of ladies here and the scenes where he smugly tells an eager and attentive (if slightly balding) Dietrich about his exploits are genuinely funny, if more than a little awkward.
Ultimately this is fine entertainment. The 'adult' aspect of the movie, while still obviously quite prevalent, is tame by modern standards despite the frequent full frontal - it's almost quaint… charming even. Dietrich's movies are always loaded with beautiful women and feature nice cinematography, this one is no exception. Not every story works as well as the next but they succeed in offering up liberal doses of cheesecake and humor, frequently at the same time.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The film arrives on Blu-ray from Ascot Elite in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. This is quite a big upgrade compared to the DVD release that also came from Ascot Elite some years back. The elements used for the transfer were in very nice shape and there isn't much in the way of serious print damage to complain about, just some nicks and small marks here and there. Grain is obvious but never distracting and there are no issues with noise reduction or edge enhancement at all. Detail is quite strong and color reproduction is also very good. Solid black levels help things out too, and all that skin on display thankfully looks nice and natural and warm, never too hot or too pink.
Audio options are provided German, French and English DTS-HD 2.0 Mono Master Audio tracks, there are no subtitles provided. The English audio here is fine is not particularly remarkable. There are no issues with any hiss or distortion to note and the levels are well balanced.
Aside from a quick, recently shot intro from Steeger herself, we also get an on camera video interview with her that runs just over thirty-eight minutes entitled Und Find Ed Wunderbar. Unfortunately both pieces are in German only and appear without any subtitles. A thirteen minute featurette entitled Ingrid Steeger - Die Schweizer Jahre is also included, but again, German language only without subs.
Aside from that, we get trailers for a few other Dietrich/Steeger collaborations, a still gallery, menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
Ascot Elite's Blu-ray release of Die Bett-Hostessen is a good one. Granted, it's geared towards the German market and as such the extras are in German - that's fair enough, but outside of that the transfer and the quality of the audio is quite solid. The movie itself is a fun slice of saucy European sexploitation that fans of Dietrich's silly sex films and either Ms. Steeger or Ms. Free should definitely appreciate.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
